Heel-attaching machine.



1. FJSTANDISH.

HEEL ATTACHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 19. l9l5.

Patented D00. 19, 1916.

JOHN F. STANDISH, OF WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

HEEL-ATTACHING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1916.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. STANDISH, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Vinthrop, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts have invented certain Improvements in Heel-Attaching Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to machines for attaching rubber heels or lifts to boots and shoes. y

In securing a rubber heel to a shoeit is frequently desired, in addition to the attaching nails, to cement the heel and leather part together. Preliminarily to the nail driving operation the cemented heel and the leather part are subjected to pressure to force them into intimate contact and in this operation a rubber heel tends to bulge laterally. Such bulging produces a relative transverse movement between the adjacent cemented faces .of the leather and of the heel and this movement has the effect of rolling the cement into strings and so detant, however, the certain portions of the heel should be permitted to bulge in order that the material adjacent to the attaching nails may flow when displaced by the drivers. Otherwise the heel will be mutilated when the drivers are forced below the tread surface of the heel to embed the attaching nails therein. i

To this end an important feature of the invention consists in holding means shaped to engage the marginal portion of a heel adjacent to its cemented surface while permitting the heel to bulge laterally above its confined area.

It is frequently desired to attach a rubber heel to a curved surface such as the heel seat of a shoe and, in order to cause the cemented surface of the heel to adhere to the leather part over its entire area, it is necessary to bend the heel into conformity with such curved surface.

The present invention contemplates, as another of its features, the provision of means for engaging the tread face of the heel adjacent to its margin in such manner as to bend the heel into conformity with the curved surface of the leather part when the heel is subjected to pressure.

In operating upon rubber heels as they are now supplied by the manufacturers there is likely to be found an appreciable variation in the location of the attaching nails with which the heels are loaded before they are presented to the attaching machine. In order to allow for such variations the present invention contemplates, as another of its features, the provision of a gang .of drivers including several drivers of oval cross-section so disposed as to cover the area .in which each of the attaching nails is likely to he encountered.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which,

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation,

partly'in section, of a heel attaching machine embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the driver gang; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of. a rubber heel and the parts adjacent thereto; Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of the heel holding member, and Fig. is a view in perspective showing an attached heel as it appears while under pressure.

The invention is herein illustrated as embodied in the well-known American lightning nailing machine but it is not limited in its application to that machine or to machines of any particular type. Only sufficient of the machine is herein illustrated to disclose fully the present in vention, the parts of the machine not shown comprising only such as are well known in nailing machines of this type.

The frame 10 is provided with a stationary die plate 12 through which extend ver' tical passages H for the drivers. Beneath the die plate is supported'a jack 16 upon which the shoe to be heeled is placed by the operator. Mechanisrd, not herein shown, is provided for elevating the jack toward the die plate 12 when it is desired to subject the work to pressure. shown is constructed to support a shoe on a last 18 with its heel seat portion in alinement with and beneath the driver passages 14.

The machine frame 10 is provided with vertical hearings in which reciprocate a pair ofside rods 20 carrying at their upper ends a cross head 22. The cross head is provided on its lower surface with transverse' ways for the reception of the driver'block 24 in which the individual drivers 26 are rigidly set. The rear driver is of circular cross-section and the remainingdrivers are of oval cross-section and are set with their major axes extending divergently.

The die plate 12 is provided on its lower surface with undercut ways 29 for the reception of the heel holding member 28. The heel holding member has opposite parallel edges shaped to slide in the guideways 29 and a socket 31 in one cdgefor'the reception of a spring locking pin 33.

' The locking pin 33 maintains the holding v member in a proper posit-ion and permits its removal when it is desired to substitute another holder of a different size.

The holder 28 is cut out at its center and has annular surfaces shaped to fit the marginal surface of a rubber heel of a given size. Other interchangeable holding members are provided having dimensions appropriate for receiving heels of different sizes.

VVhen in p'osition beneath the die plate 12 the lower portion of the holder member 28 comprises a U-shaped flange 3O shaped to fit the curved marginal surface of a heel adjacent to that surface of the heel which is to lie upon the leather part of the shoe. the flange 30 the holding member is provided with an annular groove or slot 32 and above the slot 32 is formed a second flange 34 beveled inwardly on its lower surface. The breast portion of the holding member 28 comprises a beveled bar 36 curved in con? tour to correspond to the transverse'curve of the shank of a shoe.

In the accompanying drawings the rubber heel to be attached is shown as having a beveled breast surface and as being adapted. for attachment directly to the outsole of a shoe. It will be understood, however, that it. is within the scope of the invention to adapt the heel holding member for rubher heels of other shapes, to be attached directly .to an outsole or to a leather deck previously attached to an outsole, or for a rubber top lift. Moreover the term rubber heel is used broadly for convenience to des ignate any heel or lift of resilientcharacteristics.

In attaching a heel of the character herein disclosed the shoe is first placed upon the The jack herein Above mosses jack 16 withthe heel seat portion of the out sole beneath the heel holding member 28. A heel which has been previously loaded with attaching nails 42 is then placed within the holder with the attaching nails projecting upwardly into the driving passages. The lower surface of the heel and preferably the heel seat portion of the sole have been coated with cement which is in condition to secure together the two surfaces when they are pressed together. The "jack is then elevated to press the rubber lien]. and sole firmly together. In this operation the marginal surface of the heel is confined by the flange 30 adjacent to the sole 43 so thatthere is no transverse movement between it and the sole. Above the flange 30 the groove 32 permits the bulging of the material of the heel.

The beveled surface of the upper flange 34- tends to bend the rubber heel downwardly above its margin so that it will conform accurately to the curved heel seat surface of the sole. The beveled and curved breast bar 36 act similarly upon the breast portion of the heel laying it firmly in place against the curved shank and causing the lower surface of the rubber heel to adhere to the sole out to the extreme edge of the heel. When the work has thus been subjected to pressure the side rods 20 are pulled downwardly and the drivers 26 operated to drive the attaching nails through the sole of the shoe and clench them upon the portion 18- of the jack. The attaching nails, as shown in Fig. 3, pass through washers which are incorporated in the rubber heel during its manufacture and the throw of the drivers is such that the heads of theattaching nails are embedded in the material of the rubber heel, until they rest upon the washers.

As the location of the washers is likely to vary somewhat in the different sizes of heel to be attached the drivers are made of large cross-section and are so arranged as to cove1 the areas in which the attaching nails are most likely to be encountered. As this variation is not likely to occur in the case of the rear nail of the gang the rear driver may be of circular cross-section as shown in Fig. 2. After the attaching operation the drivers are elevated and the jack lowered thus releasing the pressure upon theirubber heel. The latter therefore contracts to its normal shape and is drawn downwardly out of its holder with the shoe to which it has been attached. j

Itwill be noted that when the heel 40 is bent into conformity with the curved heel seat-of the shoe the points of the attaching nails 42 are inclined inwardly. This preliminary positioning of the nails is advantageous in that it prevents the nails from being driven out through the sides of the shoe as might occur if they were free to assume their own direction.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1. In a heel attaching machine, means for pressing a resilient heel upon a shoe, and means for confining the heel about its margin adjacent to the shoe, said latter means being constructed and arranged to permit press a resilient heel upon a shoe, and a ring member shaped to engage the periphery of the heel and having a groove in its inner face to permit bulging of the heel in that portion of its area located opposite tothe groove.

4. In a heel attaching machine, relatively movable members for pressing a resilient heel upon a shoe, and a ring member shaped to confine the heel against bulging laterally adjacent to its flat faces and having a groove for permitting such bulging intermediately.

5. In a heel attaching machine, relatively movable members for pressing a resilient heel upon a shoe,- a gang of drivers movable to force attaching nails below the tread surface of the heel. and a holding member shaped to confine the heel against bulging laterally adjacent to the shoe and having a groove to permit 'such bulging below the tread surface of the heel.

6. In a heel attaching machine, relatively movable members for pressing a resilient heel upon a shoe, and a heel holding member having two narrow flanges shaped to engage the marginal surface of a heel and being spaced from each other.

7. In a heel attacl 'ng machine, relatively movable members for pressing a resilient heel upon a curved surface, and a heel holding member shaped to engage the marginal surface of the heel and having a beveled flange arranged to overlie the tread face of the heel adjacent to its margin.

8. In a heel attaching machine, a jack and die plate relatively movable to press a resilient heel having a beveled breast surface upon a curved surface, and a presser member beveled to correspond to the'breast surface of the heel and curved to bend the breast portion of the heel into contact with said curved surface.

9. In a heel attaching machine, a die plate, a holder for a rubber heel disposed beneath the die plate and having a beveled flange arranged to be interposed between the margin of a heel in the holder and the die plate, and a curved flange spaced from the beveled flange and serving to confine the heel at its marginal surface adjacent to the shoe;

10. In a heel attaching machine a holder for a heel loaded with attaching nails, and means for subjecting the heel to pressure and at the same time bending ittransversely to incline the attaching nails inwardly.

11. In a heel attaching machine, a movable jack, a holder for maintaining a loaded flexible heel in alinement with the heel seat of a shoe on the jack and having means for bending the heel transversely to incline the attaching nails when the jack is moved, and nail drivers constructed and arranged to operate while the nails are so inclined.

1-2. In a heel attaching machine, a die plate, a heel holder disposed adjacent the die plate and shaped to hold a flexible heel with its tread face spaced from the die plate, and a jack movable to force the center portion of the heel into contact with the die plate, thereby bending the heel to fit a convex heel seat.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN F. STANDISII. 

